Massa holds off Hamilton to win in Turkey
Felipe Massa adds to his wins in Turkey in 2007 and 2006
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Sunday, 11, May 2008 08:59
Ferrari's Felipe Massa finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton to win the Turkish grand prix at Istanbul Park.
Massa started from pole position to clinch a hat-trick of wins in Turkey, while Hamilton edged out world champion Kimi Raikkonen to take second.
BMW Sauber duo Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld took fourth and fifth place.
The result means Hamilton and Massa are both seven points behind Raikkonen in the drivers' championship.
Hamilton made an explosive start and overtook team-mate Heikki Kovalainen before the first corner.
Finn Kovalainen's afternoon got worse after he was forced to pit due to a puncture.
Hamilton was breathing down Massa's neck in the early stages, slashing the Brazilian's lead to 1.4 seconds after eight laps.
The Briton pitted on lap 15, to switch to hard tyres, when he was just 0.3 seconds behind Massa.
Hamilton's persistence paid off when he overtook Massa's Ferrari on turn nine with a stunning manoeuvre to take the lead.
The 23-year-old build up a 2.8 second lead over Massa and a 12.2 second advantage over Raikkonen.
Hamilton had a 16-second lead going into his third pit stop, changing to soft tyres, but emerged behind Massa.
The Briton then had to stave off a challenge from Raikkonen with the Finn moving within 0.6 seconds behind the McLaren driver.
But Hamilton finished 0.8 seconds ahead of Raikkonen to reignite his title challenge.
Elsewhere, David Coulthard finished ninth for Red Bull, two places ahead of Honda's Jenson Button.
Round six of the championship takes place in Monaco for the Monte Carlo grand prix on May 25th.